12-15-2003, 10:54 PM
Quote:Chancellorship was a step toward the British Model of Parliamentary Government.
If I remeber correctly, Bismarck was German chancellor in the 1870's. At that point, British parliamentary democracy was far from what it is now. The qualifications to vote changed in each county. From owning a valued at £10 or more, Having a house with a fireplace and lockable door, or simply owning a particular house. Women, of course, couldn't vote. The system had been very bad pre-1830's when the first reform act was passed. This still didn't really change much. People who had the vote went up from about 500,000 to 813,000, in a population of 24 million. A secret ballot was not introduced. The second reform act was passed in the 1870's, but hat still didn't make the system like it is now. It wasn't until 1918 (i think) that women got the vote, and I believe the last changes to our democratic system only came in around the 1950's. BTW, it's not a very good system:
e.g., 2 parties, labour and conservative. In every constituency labout gets 60% of the vote, conservative gets 40%, in the house, labour has 100% of the MP's, Conservative has 0%. Obviously it's more complex than this, but in my opinion Weimar Germany's system was better, with the exception of article 48.
If I got the gist of your post right, then I'm just pointing out that parliamentary government in Britain at that time wasn't a very good example to be praised. If I didn't then I'm just babling pointlessly. Either way, I'll shut up now.
-Bob